Mrs STUCKEY (Currumbin—LNP) (12.24 pm): Planning for the future upgrade of the Pacific Motorway, the M1, between Varsity Lakes and Tugun was completed in 2008 under the then Labor government. An eight-page detailed newsletter with colour maps was distributed to elected council, state and federal representatives and local residents in March 2008. Public displays were held in Burleigh and Elanora over six separate dates. Diagrams show this section of road and provide very clear information stating—

Southbound traffic will access Guineas Creek Road via the Palm Beach Avenue off ramp. Southbound off ramp will be removed.

This would mean the closure of exit 93, with southbound M1 traffic accessing Guineas Creek Road and Sarawak Avenue via exit 92 and a new service road on the western side of the M1. TMR stated that leaving the exit 93 off-ramp open once the M1 is upgraded to three lanes southbound would lead to unsafe traffic weaving movements due to the close proximity of the exit 92 southbound on-ramp.

Seven years have passed since this planning was undertaken and the M1 has experienced growing traffic pressures. Local resident Mr Alan Hider asked me to sponsor an e-petition requesting the government find an alternate option to closing exit 93 as it would block access to the Pines Shopping Centre, football club and local schools. Traffic chaos and gridlock will result, he said. Palm Beach Avenue, exit 92, is already heavily congested, with traffic backed up K P McGrath Drive and back into Palm Beach at peak and non-peak times.

Widening the M1 to ease traffic congestion remains a top priority according to my recent electorate-wide survey. Surely it is time for a rethink and a revisit of infrastructure planning for this section of road. With a federal election this year, I am hoping for an announcement regarding funding for widening of the M1 to Tugun.
The division 13 Labor aligned candidate, Ms Beikoff, is accusing my constituent Mr Hider of hysterical false rumour, but the facts speak for themselves. Does she want to pull the wool over people’s eyes just so she can get elected? That is Labor’s way. It is in their DNA.

Beikoff has deliberately mislead residents when she says, `There simply is no plan to close it.’ The minister’s written comment does not say this at all, merely that the closure has not been approved by him. Two very different statements—the 2008 plans show a closure, that is a fact. Just because it has not been approved does not mean it is not still on the cards. The TMR’s website still has it there.

Labor has a track record of hiding the truth. Take the Gold Coast quarry disaster planned for the Tallebudgera hinterland—another sleeper issue that caught residents by surprise. Labor’s sneaky, behind-the-screens agenda saw the region given key resource status allowing mining use—everyone was kept in the dark. Then Labor gave it significant project status.

Then there is the Labor aligned candidate in division 14, Natalie Wain, who has jumped on the popular push for a Tugun-Bilinga ocean way purely for political gain. The local organisation Friends of Currumbin have come under fire from other council candidates, accusing them of bias, for secretary, Gloria Baker, providing a glowing 250 or so word endorsement which Ms Wain has circulated to the entire division in a promotional vote for me brochure. I table a copy of that brochure.

It is one thing to include a photograph of a candidate in a newsletter, but it is another to give a testimonial representing a respected local organisation as the preferred candidate in this manner. Did she have consent from them to do this or did she abuse her position of secretary of Friends of Currumbin? Ms Beikoff and Ms Wain must now inform the people of divisions 13 and 14 whether they are Labor aligned members. They claim to be independent.

Residents should be very aware of council candidates who just pop up before elections and attach themselves to topical issues. Together with my colleagues the honourable members for Burleigh and Mudgeeraba, I will continue to fight for widening of the M1 and I will continue to raise these sleeper issues that affect the good folk in Currumbin. It really does pose the question: how many more of these sneaky little secrets are sitting there in people’s electorates throughout this state? It is only when we have an opportunity to raise them in this House and in the broader community and in the media that they get a mention. I am very proud of the track record of the people in Currumbin in fighting for what they believe in. We will fight to have the M1 widened and fight to save closure of exit 93.